Why have large breasts become "must haves"?

[Hullygully]

I know someone on here will know the sociological history.

Even in my generation we didn't want them, indeed tried to hide them. Now they are de rigeur (inc implants). What has wrought the change?

This comes from a thread about implants and the whys.

But I mean, they're just breasts, aren't they. Wibbly bits that women have on the front, that men don't have, and you can feed babies milk with them. Of course men like to look at them but really they're just another normal part of a female body. The fetishisation of breasts is the original problem, and the rest comes from that.

I have been thinking rather obsessively about breasts over the last few days and I think that the reason they have assumed such prominance (boom boom) is because they literally give life and really are the primal and first source of all warmth, nourishment and comfort (hardly a new thought). They call to something very deep in people.

And only women have them so there is breast-envy (much more likely than penis envy) and covetousness and worship and attraction to fertility and and.

I'm still not entirely sure how we got to the place of giant breasts = good. Maybe it is the general pornification thing.

prominence

Desmond whotsit thinks men like to look at women's breasts because a cleavage looks like an arse.

Or something.

There's an arse in there somewhere

If breasts weren't fetishised and women could choose freely what sort of breasts to have then I imagine most would choose small / smallish ones. Larger breasts can be uncomfortable, cumbersome, make it difficult to exercise, cause back pain etc etc.

goodness.

that does bring a whole new dimension..

Is there a part of the male body which is presented so regularly in such a fetishistic manner in public?

I have really grown to dislike the way bits of women's bodies are displayed in adverts, it always strikes me on the tube for some reason

yep. hate it hate it.

There was a thread about women's bodies in art the other day. Think about how shocking it would be if there as many pictures of penes around as there are of breasts.

Why?

"British zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the cleft between the buttocks,[24] which according to Morris in The Naked Ape is also unique to humans, other primates as a rule having much flatter buttocks."

wiki

"I interviewed a young anthropologist working with women in Mali, in a country in Africa where women go around with bare breasts. They're always feeding their babies. And when she told them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of shock. The women burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, they fell on the floor. They said, "You mean, men act like babies?"
Carolyn Latteier, Breasts, the women's perspective on an American obsession"

People say that women's bodies are intrinsically more appealing to look at than men's.

What a load of old twaddle. How can people say these things with sincerity? So all people, male female gay straight whatever, like to look at naked women, and don't like to look at naked men. Righto.

I posted that african thing from wiki as it amused me

People assert that it is natural to sexualise and fetishise breasts as much as happens in our society in the here and now. It's just not true.

Ooo interesting, SQ. Good.

Desmond is a bit of a tosspot really. Who was the female anthropologist who wrote The Female Ape (?) That was much better.

Of course in Mali the men go around naked so the women don't scream if the get surprised by one late at night in the underpass.

I say

isnt there something relating to the economy - in good times you (well if you are woman) have to be skinny and in bad times be glamorous to cheer the men up with your tatties?

society allows men to be attractive in many different ways. women have to fit the current template. it is always young, always v difficult to achieve (skinny, then slim with big boobs).

basically you have to have big boobs until thats it becomes common place. then you have to have smaller ones. but still no room for life...in a society acceptable woman's body. which is really very odd.

i like my tits, i hope you all like yours!

This thread is getting more 'burlesque' as the night wears on.

does penis really exist?

I mean of course does penis envy really exist???

@ pam

I saw one once. My oh my. Never again.

It was like it was looking at me

SQ I mean my first question 'does penis really exist' ... now thats a real philosophical question

Apologies if I'm repeating anything already stated here. The way I tend to view it is that narrow hips are an indicator of extreme youth. Big breasts that are still perky = more of the same. The fact that this type of body is more or less unobtainable to anyone over the age of 20 says it all as far as I'm concerned. And younger women are so much easier to control aren't they?

The only woman I know who had genuinely massive boobs hated them with a passion and had them reduced from an F/G to a C several years ago.

wasabi I agree with that

Pam - well when my DD1 was 3 she was playing with next door's son (4) and I had to go and fetch her some fresh clothes. He had peed from the top of the slide and she had tried to do the same and got a puddle in her knickers

I don't think it exists, no. I think that when Freud came up with his idea, what women actually wanted was the access to money, freedom, security, power, all of it.... they didn't want to have willies.

I think that female bodies are great, the only time I have ever wanted to have a penis was when I have been caught short after one too many drinks...

I think it relates to erotic visual images, or at least those intended to be that way, and needless to say, aimed at men. The people who create those pictures make the most of women's breasts, either bare or suggestively covered. It's easy to imagine how a woman with large breasts could be presented as "sexy" where a more ordinary-looking woman would have to have to be shown some other way. Then people absorb the idea that large breasts, prominently displayed, are what's sexy. And these days, looking sexy is treated as if it's very important, especially for young women (both women and men seem to be in agreement about this). So, want to look sexy, get big boobs, if you haven't got them naturally. It sort of makes us forget that they're just parts of the body, important for one purpose and just there all the rest of the time.

That's just it though Tei - naturally big breasts aren't particularly sexy. Well, not without a damn good bra anyway. They have to be the pretend standy uppy kind to fit the criteria you describe. So, now we're in a place where only big, fake tits are deemed sexy by either gender.

The logic then follows - natural womans body bad, fake womans body - good. I guess it then follows that hatred of women underpins this whole "must have."